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Evaluating A Website 's Dependability Essay

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Introduction and Similarities In an age of technology and constantly changing information, being able to discern reliable sources on the web is important. Websites are created not only to provide information, but entertainment and financial reasons as well. When evaluating a website, there are nine areas that need to be considered to determine a website’s dependability, such as the author, publisher, accuracy, currency, purpose, content, bias, knowledge, and layout. While researching the 2012 Hurricane Sandy disaster, the following sites, FEMA.gov and Propublica.org, both have a page or pages focused on the relief efforts and methods in which changes are necessary to effectively respond to such a disaster in the future. Though both sites concentrate on the same topic, this is where the similarities end.
Author, Publisher, Accuracy, and Currency
The first criteria of a good website to consider is does the article or website have an author or publisher listed? Both websites provide the names of the authors of the website or article. FEMA’s authors’ biographies indicate both have service related history with administrative and management experience. The authors’ of the Sandy article on the Propublica page are all investigative journalists with backgrounds varying from politics to finance to news correspondent. Propublica publishes stories just like any other news organization whereas FEMA is published and maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, which makes the

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